First Look: Monster ClarityHD Micro hands-on

First Look: Monster ClarityHD Micro hands-on

2:18 /
March 21, 2013

All in all, the Monster ClarityHD Micro sounds good, but it's not worth the $200 price tag.

-Hi.
I'm David Carnoi, Executive Editor for cnet.com and I'm here with the Master ClarityHD Micro Bluetooth Speaker.
This is about the iClarity Speaker.
This is the ClarityHD Micro.
This Clarity has a list price of around $200.
You only get it right out of the way.
It's not worth $200, but it is worth about $125.
This is a good, little Bluetooth speaker.
It's just a bit overpriced at $200.
It competes with the Jawbone Jambox and sounds very similar, offers very big sound for its size.
You can crank the volume of both your Smartphone or tablet and the volume in this will play very loud.
-There was a time-
-It offers a reasonable amount of bass for its small size, but some people will, obviously, think it's a little bit thin.
Really, it's strongest in the midrange.
Vocals do sound very clean on this speaker and, all in all, it is a pretty detailed speaker.
Obviously, it does have its
limitations.
Some of the extra features you get in this, it does have an audio input for devices that don't have Bluetooth connect, a non-Bluetooth device to this.
It does charge via USB, has rechargeable battery, gives you about 6 hours of battery life playing at a moderate to high level volume.
And you can change the grills on this.
It has removable grills.
They come in different colors.
It costs around $20 each.
So, that's kind of the accessorizing of this speaker.
There's also
a hand strap for it and it has a rubberized bottom so that, if you do get a lot of bass out of it, it doesn't move around when you played it loud volumes.
Fellows, it's worth mentioning that this does support the app Ex Codec that's found in certain Smartphones like the Galaxy S3 that offers in fury, slightly clearer Bluetooth streaming.
It doesn't matter as much with a smaller speaker like this, but some people will think it's a nice added feature that has that compatibility.
All in all, a worthy competitor, the
Jawbone Jambox, not worth $200, but if you can find it online for a $125 or less, I have seen it for those prices, it's definitely worth a long look.
I'm David Carnoi and that's the Monster ClarityHD Micro Bluetooth Speaker.
Thanks for watching.